Smart Growth Proposed Project: Farm to Market Road

Hello Hive Fam! Welcome to another blog. For today's content I will be sharing here to you my project proposal for our Barangay. This proposal is in lined with my course subject Urban Geography. I proposed a project that aimed at making our Barangay more sustainable, and people friendly. Join me in this endeavor as I share to you the actual paper for my project proposal.

Barangay San Jose Map

Source: Click here for reference.

San Jose is an upland barangay of the Municipality of Borbon situated north of the Municipality of Tabuelan. San Jose is a mountain barangay of Borbon whose main source of living is agriculture. Land is utilized mainly for agricultural practices. It is comprised of four sitios. Tagaytay is one of the sitio of the barangay that produced much of the agricultural products of San Jose. Despite being the agricultural hub of San Jose, Tagaytay lacks the necessary infrastructure for its economy to flourish. Although it did manage to sell their products to the market, it doesn't hide the fact that the difficulty for transporting their products brought them with great inconvenience. Moreover, the road situation of Sitio Tagaytay made me to propose a farm to market road that will link directly the road from farms to market.

Background
In this case, the problem is that there is no direct sitio road that connects to the barangay road to the farm market, making it difficult for farmers to transport their products and for consumers to access fresh produce. The opportunity is to construct a new concrete road that will improve access and support local agriculture.

The urge of need to make a farm to market road is a must to attain efficiency and easy access in remote areas of Barangay San Jose, particularly with Sitio Tagaytay. It is evident that the access to road of the sitio was hampered long time ago and up until now, causing delay on the delivery of goods and services. Sitio Tagaytay is one of the top agricultural product producer of the Barangay. The Sitio was rich in copra, coconut wine, variations of banana, sugarcane, corn, root crops, vegetables and livestock commodities. Thus, with my proposed farm to market road that will connect to the barangay road of San Jose going to the market, will be of great help and convenience to our local agriculture traders and to various stakeholders.

Physical Survey of Potential Area to be Developed

Significance and Impacts
According to the local residents, the need for a well constructed concrete road in their sitio is a must, for them to be able to transport their products to the market. Thus, this project will therefore provide an easy access of road for them. A local resident reiterated, that the problem of road in their sitio was a primitive problem and ancient to say, some local officials have pledged to make the road accessible, but none of those were realized. They then pointed out, that it is not just the uneven road texture that they are struggling everyday but also during rainy season. During rainy days, the road is totally impassable which causes a delay on the everyday lives of the locals going to their desired destination of transactions. Moreover, the locals just devised a way to went in and out of their sitio through a narrow diversion path. It is very difficult for the locals if this issue persist, therefore this must be given solution as soon as possible.

Additionally, the construction of farm to market roads also allows for the development of previously inaccessible rural areas, allowing for the growth of new industries as well as the expansion of existing ones. This creates job opportunities for rural residents and lowers poverty levels in these areas. Furthermore, better transportation infrastructure improves rural residents' quality of life by allowing them to access essential services such as healthcare and education.

Furthermore, short term impacts of this proposed farm to market road include improved access to markets, reduced transportation costs, increased access to services, improved social connectivity, and etc. On the other hand the project also has its long-term impacts such as improved economic development, increased agricultural productivity, improved social mobility, and environmental impacts. Over time, farm to market roads can have both positive and negative environmental impacts, depending on how they are designed and managed. Well-designed roads can help to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality, while poorly designed roads can lead to deforestation, soil degradation, and other environmental problems. Thus, with this project proposal we are both aiming for the welfare of the locals and of course the welfare of our environment.

Limitations
The farm to market road would be of great significance to the stakeholders of Sitio Tagaytay, if realized. According to the Barangay Chairman of San Jose, Honorable Sandy G. Lopez the Annual Development Fund of the barangay is allocated 20% of the total budget of the barangay which amount four hundred fifty-nine thousand pesos (Php.459,000.00). He reiterated that the budget development will have to cater many projects such as the street lighting and solar lights installation. Road concreting according to him needs a massive fund from the municipal or provincial government. Moreover, political will, also play a crucial part for this. In addition the Honorable Chairman also pointed that the barangay already allocated Php.150,000.00 for the concreting of the road, but that would reach as far as 55 meters only.

In many cases, the lack of funding is a result of limited resources or tight budgets, which made it difficult to invest in new projects or initiatives. This made the barangay to focus on short-term projects rather than investing in long-term developments, thus resulting to a missed opportunities for growth and progress. But still, it is good to hear that the barangay has future plans for the Sitio, who knows? No one know.

Conclusion
In general, farm to market roads are critical for rural development and agriculture. The former Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar reiterated that the farm to market road project is a very important investment which will propel a 60% rate of improvement in moving produce from the production area to the trading centers. Moreover, it enable farmers to transport their products to markets, allow previously inaccessible rural areas to be developed, and improve the quality of life for rural residents. The development of these roads has a significant economic impact, increasing agricultural production, trade, and commerce. While there may be some negative consequences, the benefits of farm-to-market roads far outweigh the drawbacks. As a result, it is critical to continue investing in the construction and maintenance of these roads in order to promote rural development, agriculture and sustainability.

That's all for today Hive Fam, I hope you have enjoyed ready my blog. Have a nice day ahead! See you on my next blog!❤️✨